03 Numbers

UK Wide Numbers

What are 03 numbers?

UK telephone numbers beginning with '03' are used by many businesses, public services and other organisations. They are commonly used for national helplines or customer service and enquiry centres.

All UK '03' numbers:

  • Must cost no more to call than normal '01' or '02' landlines
  • Are covered by inclusive minutes in a phone contract
  • Are not associated with any particular location
  • Cannot generate money for the call recipient

See also: 08 numbers.

03 number types

All 03 numbers are charged at the same rate and work in the same way. It is, however, possible to further subdivide them as follows:

Numbers beginning 030
Public sector bodies, charities, government and other non-profit organisations have exclusive access to 030 numbers, including all 0300 numbers, 03000 numbers and 0303 numbers.

Numbers beginning 033
Available to any business or individual for any purpose. 033 numbers include 0330 numbers, 03333 numbers and 0333 numbers.

Numbers beginning 034 and 037
034 and 037 numbers are available to companies who want an '03' number that matches an existing '08' number. For example, the owner of 0845 748 4950 would be entitled to claim 0345 748 4950, which they could use in addition to, or instead of, the original 08 number. Numbers in use include 0343, 0344, 0345, 0370, 0371 and 0372.

Number Format

As the entire number must almost be dialled in full, there is no fixed format for these numbers.

The format 03xx xxx xxxx is probably the most common.